How to Use Your Extra Hour of Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Savings Time is ending this Sunday, November 6th, and it marks the end of the warmer season. Even though the summer was great and the fall is exciting, aren’t we all excited for the chilly weather, hot chocolate, and the holiday season? There are many ways to spend the extra hour, and even though most people prefer to sleep it out, you can choose to use it by doing something really useful that will save you time (and headaches) later on. Here is a list of interesting and useful things to do in your extra hour, so use it to make good changes that will benefit your life and your family.

Check Your Emergency Devices

Use your extra hour of Daylight Savings Time to make check your smoke detectors. Source: Safety.com

Every once in awhile we have to check our home devices to see if everything is in order, especially the emergency ones, like smoke detectors and emergency lights. Use this week’s extra hour to change the batteries and make sure they are working properly, so you can rely on them without any worries.

Car Maintenance

With the holidays approaching, you’ll probably be driving a lot to visit all the relatives, friends and going on roadtrips. Avoid any unnecessary stress or even major headaches just by checking on how your car is doing.

Use the extra hour to make a list of things to take care of before the winter comes, so you can keep your family safe and your home stress-free, leaving you free to have a peaceful season in a safe and warm house.

Password Check

At least every six months it’s good to change our passwords, and this Daylight Savings Time change can be a good reminder of that. Use the extra hour to check and change the passwords of your email, store accounts, phone and even bank passwords can benefit from the change. Data breaches happens all the time and can go undetected for months, so good precaution is never too much. While you’re at it, check your privacy settings on your social media accounts. Setting your posts so that only friends can see them, instead of the standard “public,” can give you a little bit more privacy and keep prying strangers away.

Medical Insurance

Now is the time to go over your medical insurance and make any changes or additions that it may be in need of. Use this time to review your policies and your family’s current health-care needs to check if there is anything that needs to be changed and to decide what are your best options. This year’s period for open enrolling on a medical insurance plan goes from November 1st 2016 through January 31st 2017.

Check Your Credit Report

How about using your extra hour to check your credit report? I know it’s not the most interesting thing to do, but checking to see if there is no discrepancies or things that you disagree with, can save you a lot of money on the long run, since the report plays a part in creating your credit scores – which are extremely valuable to determine the interest rates you pay and your creditworthiness. You can get your reports here.

Expired Products

Be sure to check expiration dates and get rid of any expired products and food. Source: Lifehacker

We rarely remember to check the expiration dates of the products we consume, even though that is extremely important, and it can bring us from an upset stomach from an old candy to a more serious problem when it involves medicine, for example. So use this one extra hour to check your medical cabinets, bathroom cabinets (including makeup and body lotions), and the pantry for products that are past the expiration date or if it doesn't look as it should be.

Health Check-Ups

Every six months to a year we have to do check-ups to see how our body is doing, but it is very easy to forget about it or just keep postponing it. Use the hour to check when was the last time you did your check-up or your children’s last dentist appointment, and look up their numbers and addresses to arrange a visit.

Every year you can use the Daylight Saving Time change as a reminder to check on this list and do these things that we are always postponing to. Of course it’s much easier to just sleep through it, but accomplishing one (or more) of these useful things will let you can avoid any stress or headaches later on and go through the end of the year with a more peaceful mind.